The space Industry today plays an important role in China's
comprehensive development strategy. The space sector enjoys a special
status and its contribution and performance cannot be judged by
macroeconomic and other aggregate national level indicators. China's
investment in space in the last 2-3 decades have focused on capabilities
that directly serve economic goals, aid development and have potential
for contribution to economic development. However economic development
was not the chief factor guiding the civil space program initially. The
government's focus on civil space industry has not been consistent with
developmental priorities since 1992 when the human spaceflight program
was started. Space technology related to specific applications such as
telecommunications satellites and remote - sensing satellites for
resource management and weather monitoring can generate direct and
visible contributions to economic development.

Apart from the main space programs, the Chinese space industry is
looking at further commercializing its space initiatives including the
export of satellite components, to Western markets. The space industry
is also likely to look at expanding into export sectors outside space
for high-technology sectors such as clean energy products, solar panels
etc.

While the government and space agencies are promoting commercial space
ventures in China, the participation of Chinese enterprises in
international commercial activities in the space field is encouraged and
opening up new commercial vistas. China is a major player in satellite
exports and has exported whole satellites and made in-orbit delivery of
communications satellites to Nigeria, Venezuela and others. The country
has also provided commercial launch services for the Palapa-D satellite
of Indonesia and the W3C satellite of Eutelsat. Besides these China has
signed export contracts with Bolivia, Laos, Belarus and other countries
for its commercial satellite and ground system.

China's space program objective is to build a permanent space station by
2020 and from there send an astronaut to the moon in the next few years.
China is now attempting to promote a narrative of the country being a
rising global power in space technology. Its plan in this regard
includes launching freighters and manned-vessels in the next 5-6 years,
conducting major research on black holes, forecasting environmental
disasters, and other space operations. In recent years China's space
exploration program has seen significant advances with its ambition to
land a lunar rover on the moon. For China its forays into space is an
important part of its continuing development, and the country has some
ambitious plans along those lines.